FIC: A Worthwhile Potion (PG)

Title: A Worthwhile PotionType: FicPrompter: articcat621Creator: geminisisterBeta(s): RoseRating: PG(Highlight to View) Warning(s): Character Death.(Highlight to View) Prompt: Hermione is injured during the Battle of Hogwarts, losing her eyesight. When she wakes up, she realises that she is at St. Mungo's and her roommate is none other than Professor Snape.Summary: When Healer Bill Wallace is placed in charge of two war heroes, he is more than thankful both Hermione Granger and Severus Snape remain Unconscious. The hospital's Administrator had taken the decision to move them into a room together. Luck seemed to be on Bill's side for once in his life, as he had now full control over both patients' welfare.

Healer Wallace opened the door to the small hospital room that held two of his patients, Hermione Granger and Severus Snape. They had been placed together due to the fact they were the only two remaining survivors from the Battle of Hogwarts that had yet to become conscious.

There had been a ruckus at first a few weeks previously, when they had been moved in together. The hospital administrator had insisted that the two single rooms be given up for two wealthy Wizards.

The hospital had sent a call out for extra medical assistance, when they had become swamped with the influx of injured direct from the Battle of Hogwarts. Healer William Wallace had arrived and jumped right in to care for the wounded. His skill at attending to and healing the injuries swiftly and efficiently, had not gone without notice. He was taken on immediately without much preamble.

"How are we today?" Bill Wallace asked as he checked on the Witch. He noticed her skin colour looked much healthier than his earlier visit in the day. Miss Hermione Granger was showing much more activity as she seemed to be tossing and turning as if having a bad dream. He lifted one of the potions that was placed on a wrack close to her bed. He chose a potion to calm her down. Moments later her restlessness ceased. He hesitated, then patted her hand awkwardly. "I think you will be awake soon."

He then moved over to check on the patient who had been forced upon him... this Wizard had been hailed a hero. He looked down at the grey pallor of his patient's skin and was startled when the eyes flew open.

Bill Wallace had been rather shocked to find him as a patient, but considered it a stroke of luck being in the right place at the right time for once in his life.

He flicked his wand and double checked his condition. The man was awake and even managed a growl of protest, although his injuries to his throat meant he was incapable of speech, he was more than thankful that this man in particular was unable to speak.

He had previously cast a repelling charm around Snape's bed. If anyone apart from Medical staff looked they would see an empty bed and be turned away from its immediate vicinity.

The man in the bed glared daggers back at the Healer and tried to speak but Bill moved his face close to his patient and whispered.

"Death Eater, you will never recover your speech." Then with a smirk on his face turned away. He had no reason to be concerned that the man venture from his bed — his injuries being irreversible, due to the basilisk poison, that he knew to have been modified by the Dark Lord himself.

+++

Hermione woke up for the first time and panicked. Flashes of memories bounced around in her head. She thought she was going mad, clutching at her head as she cried out in pain.

Her eyes were covered. What was wrong with her eyes. She wailed attacking her own face to free herself from the in prisoning things that stopped her from seeing. She screamed as she scratched at her own face inflicting further injuries to herself. Her heart raced as her fear grew and she began to shake and howl, as terror took over.

Bill Wallace had been monitoring his patients rooms as he completed his medical updates before he went off duty then noticed Miss Granger was awake and in distress. He dropped his notes and headed towards the room at a run.

Her tears had wetted the bandages and he could see where she had tried to tug the bandages free from her face. He grasped at her flailing hands and held her gently but firmly. Hermione wailed and tried to pull free.

"Miss Granger, you are at Saint Mungo's." He breathlessly huffed out. "You are safe. Hush now." He sat next to her on her bed as he calmed her down.

With a swift wave of his wand he healed her scratches. He shushed her as her sobs quietened. He knew this was a traumatic time for her and was aware she would be scared.

Hermione relaxed as she felt safe and sniffled, rubbing her nose across the Healers robes. He smelled familiar. She was vaguely aware of him speaking to calm her but unaware of the potion given to return her to a more relaxed sleep.

He stayed with her till he was sure she was sleeping. He extracted himself from the arms of the witch that had somehow wrapped round his neck. He quickly dismissed it as being part of the recovery process, then got up and checked on his other patient.

The man was awake and angry. He had surely overheard and recognised Miss Granger's name — no doubt. Bill glared and efficiently forced Dreamless sleep potion down his throat and tensed knowing this dangerous man must never be allowed to communicate with anyone. He would ensure it if forced.

He left the room at a much slower pace than the one on which he had entered. It had been a long exhausting day, but knew when he returned to his home he would not sleep but continue his research into a cure for Miss Granger's blindness.

+++

The panic was still with Hermione the next time she woke. Her senses began to kick in. She could hear and smell clearer now. She detected a clinical aroma that she decided was of medical origin and assumed herself to be in the medical wing at Hogwarts, before having a flash of memory of a healer she did not recognise. She cried with frustration that she could not remember anything of importance.

Her limbs felt heavy as she struggled to sit up. She was scared witless. It was dark. Were her eyes closed? She gasped and let loose a sob as she had raised her hand to feel bandages covering her eyes. She was blind. How could she be a witch if she was blind?

She had often had nightmares about losing her sight. Her late Nana had gone blind and Hermione had hated to see the Muggle woman who had been so sprite and happy turn into a nasty spiteful old woman. Hermione tried to tug the bindings. She wanted to see and wanted rid of the cloth covering her eyes. She curled her hands into fists and beat at her head with frustration when they failed to come loose. Even in her messed up mind she realised they had been kept in place using magic

The Healer entered and looked up surprised to see Miss Granger awake and sitting up in her bed, with her knees drawn up and her arms wrapped around her head as she sobbed rocking back and forth. He knew she was in distress and probably in pain.

He quickly attended to his patient with a quick flick of his wand, and discovered the source of her anxiety and using magic along with a potion released the pressure in her head.

Bill tried to stop the witch from rocking and regretted it instantly as she threw herself into his arms and sobbed. He was rather glad that people rarely recalled their first few times of waking after being unconscious for weeks. He soon had Miss Granger sleeping peacefully once more. He anticipated that the sleeping draft would allow her to sleep for a few hours. This gave him time to check in on his other patients and to bring his own emotions back under control. He had to keep his distance from her in future or all would be for nought.

+++

The next time Hermione woke she felt much better. Her mind seemed to be clearer too and she was relatively pain free. The only thing that made her uncomfortable was the itchiness of her eyes and the fact she could not see.

One memory she had remembered was sobbing into her Healers chest and felt her face flush red with embarrassment. Did she really do that?

Hermione lay quiet in her bed after her Healer William Wallace had informed her of her injuries. She had been cursed at the Battle of Hogwarts and up till now he had not figured out how to remedy her sight loss.

She had nodded and tried to take in as much information as he had given her. He had left her alone after walking over towards her left. She had wondered what he was doing then it dawned that a charm was hiding another patient in the room.

None of the medical staff would reply to her repeated questions of her room mates identity. But even though she was adjusting to her own incapacity, this did not deter her from wanting to discover the truth.

She was aware that the Healer kept his distance from her and had another flash of memory of her sitting on his lap with her arms around him. She blushed deeply at this memory. No wonder he kept his distance if she jumped him like that. She laughed for the first time properly since the battle. Hermione sat up suddenly as a flood of memories returned that took time for her to fully comprehend. She thought she recognised the Healer but the memory kept slipping out of her reach.

After waking she had been assisted to the en-suite shower room at first by a Medi-Witch, after a few visits Hermione found that she was able to find her way to and from the shower on her own. The monitoring of the room had been dropped to give her privacy.

Her ears had swiftly tuned in and she felt her hearing was compensating for her sight loss and wondered if her hearing capacity had increased. She could recognise footsteps and put a name to the identity of the witch or wizard. She disliked the young Medi-Witch who wore perfume that smelled like cats pee.

Healer Wallace had a pair of shoes that had a squeak when he walked when he was in a hurry, this amused her no end. She also had problems trying not to blush when he was around and had not felt so flustered since.... A memory flashed in her head of an image of Severus Snape. She felt tears fall from her eyes, thinking him dead.

Bored, Hermione's only point of interest was to discover who was in the bed next to her. Then she overheard an annoyed conversation from the partially opened hospital room door. She grew excited as today she learned the identity of the man in the next bed and froze in shock. Severus Snape was alive!

She listened further as the Minister of Magic wanted to interview Severus Snape. Wallace was adamant the man was incapable of speech. But the Minister had pre-empted Healer Wallace's objection and had already secured authorisation from a more senior Healer.

Hermione quickly pretended to be asleep as the door was thrust wide open. She then heard Wallace's footsteps approach her bed, hesitate, then turn back towards the door. She listened keenly to what was going on. All was silent till she heard voices and knew some type of privacy charm must had been removed.

She kept still and remained silent, pretending to be asleep she was sure with the privacy charm down they would be able to see and hear her .

"This is Minister Shacklebolt, he is here to interview you." Wallace announced clearly and with the sound of annoyance in his tone.

"I won't keep you long Professor Snape, I have a few official questions to ask you." Shacklebolt sounded friendly. Then there was silence for a moment. "Why is he shaking his head like that?"

"It is part of his condition as he has no control over his movements, due to the poison." Assured Wallace.

"It looks like he is trying to talk." Shacklebolt said sounding surprised. "Look — that looks as if he is repeating the word, 'No'."

"Sadly as I have already mentioned Minister, this is a result of the poisoning. We have tried antidotes previously made I believe from the patient himself. I have been informed he assisted a Mister Weasley to survive a similar bite in the past?"

"Yes, that is correct. Why is he pointing at you now?"

"I have no idea." Healer Wallace said in a slow drawl.

Hermione clamped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from snorting out a laugh. Healer Wallace had just reminded her of someone.

"Snape's face is black, he looks angry."

"Yes, you would look angry too if you could not speak and were dying a slow painful death from a poisonous snakebite."

"Should you be speaking about his condition in front of him like this? A bit callous, don't you think — with you being his designated healer?" The Minister sounded annoyed.

"My patient is aware of his condition, he is also fully aware of its outcome. He has pain relief and is comfortable and cared for as best as he can be at this establishment. If you do not trust my judgement, then feel free to designate another Healer to care for him." Healer Wallace angrily parted the curtains and stomped out from the hospital room.

The Minister of Magic slowly followed in his wake. Hermione was immediately on alert and was aware that the protection charm had not been replaced. She felt anxious about her Healer. She liked him and did not wish a new one. He was even researching to discover a cure for her blindness, although she had not asked him. She trusted her judgement of people and knew William Wallace was a good man. Mind you she once thought the same of Severus Snape.

Hermione scrunched up her face. What was going on? Something did not feel right between Severus Snape and her Healer William Wallace.

The pieces of her mind had been slowly clicking back and thanks to overhearing the recent conversation. The final piece had now slotted into place and she was annoyed.

Hermione Jean Granger may be blind but she had her full memory back.

+++

Hermione Granger was used to sneaking around. She followed the wall opposite her bed and soon reached the door that had been left open. She listened out into the corridor, nothing of note came to her ears. The Healer and Minister were not within hearing distance. All to her good. She closed the door as silently as she could then crept using the wall as a guide to reach the opposite side of her hospital room. This was an area she knew nothing about. Breath was knocked out from her when she came into contact with a wash hand basin. Its impact had doubled her over in pain. She soon was upright and did not care if Severus Snape heard her approach. She was sure she could feel his dark eyes boring into her. She blushed only then becoming aware of her hospital gown gaping at the back. So, if Snape saw her arse, so what? She heard movement then a crash. She had been correct Snape had seen her approach.

"I know you are there Professor Snape." She said as firmly and as confidently as she was able. She turned a corner and followed the wall. This wall was the one opposite her bed. She knew she was close to Snape's bed when she fell over a chair.

"Are you Severus Snape?" She asked, then heard a strange guttural sound that made her shiver with fear.

The man in the bed summoned up the last visage of strength that was left in him and used his hands to wrap around the witch's throat.

+++

Sensing danger the Healer had entered the room with caution, wand drawn and had immediately fired an Unforgivable curse at the man attacking Hermione.

Hermione, groaned and tried to bat the hand away as Healer Wallace attended to her throat.

"What do you think you were doing you stupid witch?" Wallace was angry and his calm façade broke as he lifted Miss Granger up and placed her back into her bed. He would have thrown her down if she had not been injured.

Bill sighed and sat down hard on the side of her bed. He removed a bottle from his robe pocket and took her chin in his hand and poured a potion down her throat to ease it.

"Better?" He asked a little harsher than he should have.

"Yes," she replied, then shakily asked, "Is he dead?"

Bill closed his eyes as he replied. He felt more than a little strange as he responded. "Yes, Severus Snape is dead."

Then to his horror and shock she responded.

"Severus Snape is dead, long live Severus Snape!" Then she thwacked him hard with her hand connecting with his jaw. He rubbed at his chin unsure if it was a lucky punch. He did recall hearing her of being handy with her fists from a few Slytherins..

"You utter bastard. I thought you were dead." She smacked him on his arm as she spoke through sobs. "I had thought the plan we had made had not worked and you were dying alone."

Healer William Wallace was none other than the real Severus Tobias Snape. He clutched at the fist beating against his chest and held it firmly in his hand until it uncurled and her fingers weaved into his. He knew she did not mean to hurt him otherwise she'd have beat upon him with both of her fists not just the one.

"The Brightest Witch of the Age not able to brew her own creation of the ever lasting Polyjuice Potion, surely NOT!" He announced sarcastically.

She sniffled then laughed, gripping onto his hand and not wishing to let him go. "It did work?"

"Of course it did you silly witch. He smoothed her hair with his free hand, and settled her into the crook of his arm.

"The Death Eater, he still looks...."

"Yes, he does." Severus shivered, no man should look upon his own dead face — but he had.

Hermione Granger had been working on her Polly Project since her second year. Severus thought her skill should be put to good use even at such a young age. He had seen her potential and had secretly championed her efforts. She had been working to create the ever lasting potion and her Polly Potion was a success.

The downside was she only had brewed enough for two transformations. Severus had been forced to give the Death Eater a dose of the potion using his own hair prior to Granger healing his injuries. He then had taken the second dose himself but after he had disapparated from the shack leaving his silent dopple-ganger in his place. He never envisaged that the man be found alive.

"What are you going to do now?" Hermione asked him as she hugged him tight.

"I am going to keep this face. I have grown to like my new persona. I used hair that belonged to my mothers late great Uncle and his name was William Wallace. So there is still part of my ancestry within these bones.

"I am glad you will continue with this new life." Hermione felt happy for him but sad for herself. She knew of no blind witches. She decided it would be best she return to the Muggle world.

"I suppose I will learn Braille and get a guide dog." She sniffled into his Healers robes, not wishing to leave the magical world she loved behind.

"Silly goose," Severus said shaking his head. He removed a small vial from his robe pocket. He had known what had been wrong with her eyes when he had first examined her, he had seen the same effect from Nagini's venom and realised Hermione must have come into direct contact and perhaps rubbed at her eyes. It would have taken only a short while to affect her but perhaps that was how she got hit on the head during the battle.

"I have something for you. Sit up a bit."

"What is it?" She asked.

"Wait and see." He replied. He removed her bandages with a non verbal spell. "Keep your eyes closed," he directed. He gently cleansed her eyes with cool water, then wiped them dry. He carefully dropped into each eye a few drops of the potion he had brewed for her.

Hermione held her breath. She felt her heart rate rise and she tried not to hope. Inside she knew if Severus Snape had created the potion it would work. She trusted him. Just as he had trusted her with her own potion.

He kissed her lightly on the forehead then asked her to slowly open her eyes. He had already dimmed the rooms lights and all was secure. No one could disturb them.

Hermione was scared and gripped onto his arm with both hands. She kept her eyes closed and inhaled deeply through her nose. She could still feel the place on her forehead where he had kissed her. It burned in a nice way and she had smiled. Now she was tense wondering if she would be able to see anything at all.

She had barely opened her eyelids before the light stung them but she persisted, slowly raising her lids until they were fully open. She blinked and tried to focus. She was not used to the light even though it had been dimmed. Her face was wet from the tears that had flowed down her cheeks due to her light sensitivity.

Severus could only watch as Hermione opened her eyes and watched the tears flow silently down her cheeks. He squirmed and wondered if the brew had been accurate then Hermione burst into tears and wrapped herself around him. He was at a loss of what to say or do.

Hermione lifted her tear stained face up and her eyes met his as she broke into an ear splitting smile. She could see perfectly now.

"William Wallace," she said, "You are gorgeous." She could recognise the Prince colouring. Severus had the same, the nose was straighter and the eyes were a wonderful blue and his hair was a lighter colour.

Bill Wallace was greeted with a very enthusiastic kiss. He was more than pleased his potion had worked and her sight had been restored they held each other for a few moments longer then he rose, as he tried to recover his equilibrium.

"I must attend to..." He shot a look towards the opposite side of the room where the body lay.